MARCH 7- APRIL 5, 1997
The Ventura Court Theatre
12417 Ventura Ct, Studio City

a world premiere by Rick Cleveland	directed by Paul McCrane
with Guy Boyd, Patience Cleveland, Brian Cousins, Wayne Duvall, Lois Foraker, Tim Fox, Karen S. Gregan, Butch Hammett, Robert Kerbeck, Richard Kuhlman, Nick Lee, Carol Locatell, Jeremy Maxwell, Victor Raider-Wexler, Heidi Swedborg, & Shannon Wells
set design Mark Worthington	light design Sylvester Weaver
costume design Tracy Hinman Sigrist	sound design Max Kinberg
produced by Chris Fields

Lois Foraker, Patience Cleveland, Karen S. Gregan


Patience Cleveland, Lois Foraker, Brian Cousins,
Guy Boyd, Nick Lee, Karen S. Gregan, Richard Kuhlman


Lois Foraker, Guy Boyd, Patience Cleveland

Times have been better for the Hocker family. Once the proprietors of a working farm, now Shirley (Lois Foraker) drives a school bus and Roy (Guy Boyd) is selling his old equipment, piece by piece, to make ends meet. Their daughter Jenny (Karen S. Gregan) is working to support her teenage son, Luke (Jeremy Maxwell), but he has MS and she's worried about him. Into this situation saunters a long-lost cousin Don (Brian Cousins), just back from California with a proposition for Roy--to grow marijuana on the farm, a cash crop that could solve all of the family's troubles without hurting anybody in the process. Of course, nothing is ever so simple. With his strong cast, director Paul McCrane stages the action well on Mark Worthington's ingenious set...Act one is very funny and Cleveland's setup is skilled. Boyd's performance is a standout, with his wryly, well-observed pot experimentation scene. Foraker is subtly spot-on as the stressed Shirley, and Cousins excels in displaying both Don's genuine charm and underlying menace.

-Terry Morgan

 


Friday, March 20, 1998

Flashback! Remember those '60s head shop posters depicting the "American Gothic" couple as marijuana farmers? The concept has been stretched to full-length dimensions in Home Grown, a joint venture of sorts between the Echo Theater Co and its Showtime Network sponsor at the Ventura Court Theatre.

Set in present-day Ohio, Rick Cleveland's comedy centers on a farm family's novel solution to its financial woes--switching production to America's leading "cash crop".

Juxtaposing the American heartland with the dope culture propels some inspired spoofing, a la Cheech and Chong meet the Clampetts. Paul McCrane's brisk staging sports some pinpoint renditions of pot smoking, replete with suppressed coughs and even the munchies.

Some fine performances enliven the mostly cartoonish characters, though double casting introduces an element of unpredictability in this regard. Among the reviewed cast, the standouts were Guy Boyd as the clan patriarch, Karen S. Gregan as the divorced daughter, Brian Cousins as the long-lost cousin who leads them down the garden path, and Bob Mitchell as a former son-in-law inconveniently employed as a cop.

-Philip Brandes

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